Wrapping up 2012, latest report illustrates slow Windows Phone growth

Kantar World Panel has released a report today for the month of December, which tells an expected story for Android and iOS, with the former taking the number one spot in multiple markets. The report also covers Windows Phone, which has experienced strong growth in Britain and Italy. It shows that share levels have hit 5.9 and 13.9 percent respectively, up from just 2.2 and 2.8 percent 12 months prior. But the remaining markets could have been better.

Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, had the following to say:

"It has been far slower than Microsoft would have liked, but Windows Phone is now starting to gain respectable shares in a number of key European countries. However, its performance in the Chinese and US markets remains underwhelming. As the two largest smartphone markets in the world, these remain key challenges for Microsoft to overcome during 2013."

This we can agree with. Windows Phone is still struggling to really pick up speed and hit hard against iOS and Android. There are a number of contributing factors that are weighing against the platform, many our readers will gladly provide themselves, but when it comes to brand awareness we do feel as though progress is surely being made.

Sunnebo continues and touches on Nokia's performance in Britain:

"Nokia is experiencing something of a turnaround in Britain with its smartphone sales share at 6.2% and actual sales growing by over 50% compared with last year."

We'll take the 50 percent increase in sales. The manufacturer has struggled to rejuvenate its brand, which has been top priority since Nokia joined forces with Microsoft and launched the Lumia line of Windows Phones. It's still a tough period for Microsoft and its mobile platform, especially with BlackBerry 10 just around the corner, but progress appears to be present - just take a look at the previous Kantar report.

It'll be interesting to see where Microsoft goes after the rollout of Portico (Windows Phone 8 update) and Windows Phone 7.8. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Reader comments

Wrapping up 2012, latest report illustrates slow Windows Phone growth

Not to be a negative Ned, but when you are missing "key" apps and keep dropping the ball on promised apps, that doesn't help with confidence in the platform.
To add, my friend and I who both have WP's, have come to the unfortunate conclusion, yes, it is all about the apps.

so? Other people want to use an app! The fact that WP has no official app is bad by itself no matter who'd use it. Same with instagram, soundcloud, public transit, google maps, youtube and and and...
i know there are good alternatives for some (nokia maps, metro tube ect) but at the end of the day, it is a very bad look for windows phone if neither google or facebook or other major web-companies don't support windows phone.

Well, that's a tough question to answer. For me, it is only Trillian. However, when yo ustart asking several users this question, you start you see a rather large listing of apps people are missing. One or two people might only miss one or two apps, but when you get to asking maybe a million users, you might end up seeing something like 100,000 apps listed by people multiple times. That's the problem.

But, like I said, all I miss from Android is Trillian. I just don't like IM+ as much, plain and simple. I was using IM+ on Windows 8 for a while, but it did a poor job of alerting me to messages, so I put Trillian on my desktop and use that. I still use IM+ on my Lumia 920, but it's just an inferior experience to Trillian.

As to things I dont' miss but would like to see in the future? That's where you can REALLY see problems. This is supposed to be a platform where gaming is under the Xbox brand. We don't see talks of a Halo or Forza game, both of which would INSTANTLY make the platform a lot more popular. We don't see any first-party titles worth getting excited about--Wordament is where it starts and stops for me with Microsoft Studios-made games.

It's one thing to accept a platform that's carried by third-party game developers when you're Google (built upon a search engine) and Apple (built upon PCs), but Microsoft has THE premiere console gaming experience in America, and they're not doing even 5% of what they should be to push the gaming on the platform to meet Android and iOS.

I can't agree more. I don't get it. Windows has a natural advantage that is Xbox and is not playing this card properly. A decent Halo or even new good games with great user experience with the brand Xbox would make WP a lot more for a lot of people.

How can noone understand that Instagram is the #1 must have app. I don't get how Nokia has the best camera phone on the market by far, yet Instagram is missing. This is a deal breaker for many, many people.

You don't need a good camera. BUT, instagram is NOT just for douchebags taking mirror shots from bathroom stalls. Lots of people out there are creative and use photography as a hobby. Those people use Instagram for that purpose. I can imagine how many photographer hobbyists would love to share pureview quality pictures with other creative people.

Instagram would probably limit the quality of the photos you can share with your friends, it crops the hell out of the pictures and forces you to choose a small box of what you actually want to post on the social network.

Once WP gets instagram, they'll go "oh now we need this we need that!" You just can't beat um! Right now we can't even get an official Youtube app! The regulators will NOT side with MS. The new evil empire will do everything to destroy WP, w8, and Xbox.

Shosey, I'll share my recent experience and based on that unfortunately I have to agree with Shane. I picked up an iP5 recently while my L920 was at Nokia for repairs. I was surprised not only that there are more apps for iOS, but that the apps have more features than the equivalent WP apps; I think that's key and it shows where developers invest their resources and that is sad but true. I used to hate theverge.com for their poor ecosystem scores for WP, but they are accurate in my experience. I am using both my L920 and iP5 side by side and I like WP better than iOS, but iP5 better than L920. I think Lumia is doing a disservice to WP right now, I owned the L900 and now own the L920 and Nokia has over-promised and under-delivered with both devices as well as their services.

Spotify is taking forever, Snapchat, Instagram.Citi and Wells Fargo, many airliones specially Southwest the largest national carrier. Those would be great. I also would like to see a cool appp coming out of WP that makes the people in the other systems envious hehehe in a good way.
I also dislike the third part apps for fitbit and I really hope that the next updates of HTC and Nokia oprn their bluetooth 4.0, booth have the specs but bothe launchtheir phones with 3.0 fitbit will enter in Windows Phone, it would be very easy for them, but they want bluetooth low energy, fitbit device batery lasts for days if it had to use normal bluetooth the batery would disapear in less than a day. Thirsd party pinterest isn't that good.
Finally yes Facebook app is bad, but Facebook app is bad in the three systems actually is far better than the one in android and in my opinion I like it more than the one in IOS, Facebook isn't able to develope user friendly apps.
But here the question is, our OS has a year and a bit more, the other OS systems had 6 years to develope. The quality of the apps is inprouving fast and Android is stagnated and even reducing a bit and Iphone is becoming to be the phone of people over 50, I said this after the launch of 4S, IOS will be strugling by the end of 2014 if there is not radical changes in Apple.
Ahh I also miss the number one medical app Epocrates. They were very nice when I wrote them, the maily told me get lost. More or less they say go and buy and Iphone.

I just updated my htc titan to wp7.8. I liked the UI. I feel differently about my phone compared to the time I bought it in Dec. 2011. After I bought the phone, I suggested to change the UI and take the arrow out so that the space can be utlized better. As soon as I posted that suggestion, I was scolded by MS fans. I like the current UI better than old one. Still someone at MS decided that having three shapes is enough. I can see a perfect usage of vertical half of the biggest one for a calendar live tile. I used an app called "quick launch". I am not sure who developed it. I installed from a XAP file. That app should be included in the OS.
I bought a surface RT too. MS just decided having three rows, a big word "Start" serving no purpose, Probably a lot of people like three rows. I don't. Why not giving user a choice? Why blocking the flash content? Why not providing some tool to manage SD card as library storage? Why not allowing apps to be installed on SD card (i have to tweak the registry to do that).
I have windows 8 pro on a desktop. Why not allowing flash content on IE10 (metro)?

Where is temple run, instagram, Pandora, where's all the games promised to us with the windows phone 8 launch I am content with windows phone because the foundation it is what I need it to be but we cannot continue to think that just because we may not use certain apps that they aren't a needed additive when it comes to converting people to the platform.

Frankly, I think this is pretty much all Microsoft's fault. For some reason they refuse go spend the comparatively small marketing dollars needed to get all important mindshare. They are a HUGE company... Just put 100 million behind WP and get it done.

Clever Sense, a Microsoft BizSpark One startup, that made an app for wp7. they then released app for apple, and subsequently removed their wp app. Eventually they got bought up by google.
Snapseed: best ios app for pics, gets bought by google
etc etc.
with 100 million they can buy like 10 of these smaller app companies but they dont casue msft sux. instead they buy twitsted pixel and......not one god damn thing

That's where you're wrong, though. It's not an issue where they need to spend on advertising. They need to spend on app development and publishing. They should be throwing money at Halo and Forza games. They should be throwing money at Gameloft and Glu and Rovio and Zynga to gcatch up to the competition. They're doing a fine job of marketing, but what they're marketing isn't well-developed enough to succeed.

Apps sell phones, whether we like it or not. They need to loosen the restrictions on app submissions and Xbox LIVE game integration, because they're turning developers off to the platform. When you hear that a developer would rather delist and abandon a game than update it, you know it's bad.

You're spot on about all you've said. In addition to that, Microsoft's development cycle for WP is abysmal at best. Yearly feature updates isn't helping WP's progress to maturity. Whenever they made an update (Tango, Apollo), they aim to catch up to the competition or fall short of them instead of leapfrogging them. I mean look what's happening recently at Android Central, Phablets are all the rage with 1080p resolution on screens. Windows Phone probably won't get it until next fall, if at all.

If they are to be considered serious in Mobile, MS needs to ramp up its development/updating process just like it does monthly updates with Windows for bug/security fixes. They could throw in a little tweak here and there; make small feature updates too. I don't think it's a good idea to use 'service pack' model on phones, considering the pace mobile market moves. It also wouldn't hurt much to take a page from Android and make system apps updatable separately from os updates, with a dedicated development team for those apps. If the method I suggested were followed, carriers won't be able to block software updates/tweaks that will have little to no effect on hardware operation. I mean it's hard to imagine what if our ISP's blocked our windows updates. That would make no sense at all.

yea... the lumia has been out of stock at a LOT of locations... but no figures on how much the stock originally was... for all we know... might be just 20 phone per store... [not likely though]... hahaha...

One issue is sexy specs. The 920 @4.5 has been the biggest WP. I won't mention the Ativ because it seems Samsung didn't care enough to release it with everyone else. The android nerds won't even look at phones unless they are close to 5 inches. So they arent luring many users.
I get this feeling if the numbers are still lackluster by the time the Xbox is released we won't be hearing much WP news from MS.

What TJWINS said. Also it seems like Microsoft isn't interested in supporting its own OS. In the US, buying a phone means being locked into an OS for two years. I don't think its fair or right to reccomend WP to someone at this moment. That might change in 6 monthes, and I hope it does, but as of now, unless it's a second phone to play with, I couldn't honestly reccomend WP to anyone.

Well, I would say MS is interested in supporting it's device. The good thing about WP8 is the Kernel. MS should, and has promised they will be sticking with this kernel for a long time. So in turn, updates should be something that isn't a problem (carriers having say is another issue). I find myself trying to recommend but sometimes coming up short in regards to apps. So the OS is good, supported, and has the ability to be updated. Apps, bad. Not getting mainstream apps fast enough.

I completely disagree, I have no problems whatsoever in recomending windows phone 8 to anyone, except for people for which having all the apps is a must (which are the vast minority). The minor faults that windows phone has are just that, minor and don´t change the fact that the overall experince of much better than any other OS. It is much more enjoyable to own a windows phone than it is to own android or iOS. Besides all this ridiculous negativity about microsoft not being behind their own product is pathetic. They just barelly released wp8 and portico is already being launched, and it has already been confirmed that another big OS update is a couple of months away. What more do you people want? Yes its true that xbox live and xbox music need to be improved but for all we know these improvements will be in the next update so unless the constant updates stop, people need to stop complaining.

My only real worry is xbox live games which really needs to be sorted out.

Compare it to where iPhone or Android were 2 years after they first launched - The feature set is pretty complete really. It has things like workable bluetooth, can send and receive mms messages, it doesn't stutter and crash like most Android devices (until the very recent ones) do.

Yes, there are additional things that would be good, but in my experience of it, WP seems like a pretty complete package - The areas where it is let down are so small considering the areas that it has got right when compared with other platforms.

The app gap is one that I don't really understand, but then I don't buy a phone for apps. other than stupid gimmicks, WP has every app that I need, and a massive amount that I really can't be bothered to look at. I also get that there are some big names such as Instagram missing, but what do you really want, some cheap immitation that is rubbish, or the real thing that will take time to create. If you then look at how the WP platform deals with the integration with Office / SkyDrive / Windows 8 / Xbox(?) it starts to make for a pretty awesome system - But maybe that is for my usage where work is a big part of my phones job.

From where I'm sat, if Windows Phone didn't exist, I have no idea what I would use, the other options to me just feel worse, definitely not better.

You nailed my thoughts head on. Yeah, I am missing some banking ApS. But they have decent mobile sites. My 920 is the best, most complete phone I've ever owned. I hated the Facebook AP on android. And don't miss it a bit. Me and people tiles are awesome and works better then the Facebook AP ever hoped to.

Two things I think are problems with the calendar is the lack of being able to set repeat appointments on a relative date schedule (2nd Tuesday of every month for example). I would also like to set my own reminder times. I hate how it goes from 1 hour to 18 hours for that. If I have an appointment for a place that is over an hour's drive away, you pretty much have to set a second appointment for getting ready for the main appointment.

The most appalling thing is the lack of integration, yes I said LACK of Integration, with basic services like XBox Music (Trainwreck of epic proportions - I STILL can't acces the music and videos I paid for via Zune and could watch happily via Win 7.5!), XBox Games, XBox live etc. - I seem to remember something about "Three Screens" - well that's not happening as long as there are no XBox games to speak of on WinPhone 8. It's pathetic really.

And to date, while I can sync my phone to my corporate Exchange account, I cannot sync my Contacts to my "Outlook.com" account. Just try it - you'll quickly find that there are all sort of unmentioned limitations that pretty much make it impossible. Better not lose your job or get shut out of your Exchange Outlook or you are toast.

So for all the "Integration" present in the WP OS, Microsoft's incompentence at integrating the rest of their ecosystem is wearing thin. It's defeatign the purpose of al that they have done well with WinPhone. THey need to get their act togather, and get ALL their Divisions behind WinPhone or its never going to take off.

It's the same in my case. It's almost february and Microsoft Latin America refuses to give ANY information on Windows Phone 8. The competition is coming out with awesome and new phones (not to mention the iPhone 5 is relatively cheap in an 18-month contract), and Microsoft is just sitting there trying to push old and inferior hardware.

Actually all these numbers look good to me. Once you see the %age growth you realize that it is doing much better than portrayed in the article. I think 2013 will be even better. The more people get used to "one platform" concept, we will see growth.

Those are the wrong audiences, ipholks and tech geeks. These people are settled in their collective. Have to target the young and first timers. They are the best to set trends, a domino effect that is needed on WP.

What will be really telling to me is how well BB10 takes off at the end of January. If they surge past WP in the first month or two we are going to be in some trouble.
The price is right for these WP phones so it has to come down to marketing and apps. Even when we get big apps they do not get updated. My iOS and Android friends have been playing the extra levels on Angry Birds Star Wars for a long time and there is just no mention of when or if we will get them. Temple Run? Where are you? At this point do not even bother since everyone else is already palying Temple Run 2. Sometimes this app business really frustrates me.

So I'm guessing that next year this time 6-9% market share in the US may be realistic. Its not much but its slow and steady. Britain could be 8-12% by then. Microsoft needs they're own branded phone. Surface phone is a must. The next wave of handsets should allow windows phone to grow a little more this summer. But I'm confident it'll pick up steem. Next quarter should paint a better picture with windows 8 and wp8 being out fully in most markets. I'm surprised at the Low US # though

Slow growth is due to short list of WP products, Lumia 920, 820, and variants, and HTC 8x, against an army of Android phones and well established iPhone. Add to that Poor marketing and advertisements, Lumia 920 short supply and carrier exclusive. Oh and lack of authentic apps that were promised.

Microsoft has a problem with marketing and quickly getting things done. They have brilliant ideas, amazing and innovative concepts, but they're slow to act.
1) In the US, Microsoft needs to contact the record labels, cut deals, put these phones into the hands of Drake, Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Kobe Bryant (the yellow 920 will do good with Lakers). Let them advertise it. Put it in the music videos - We saw how such a silly thing like Beats Audio sold like crazy because of that. Saturate the networks with advertisements, particularly on MTV, BET and Cartoon Network. Advertise during these American Idol shows and other large talent shows. Maybe even get a L920 in the hands of Nicki Minaj. Make a "hot pink" 920, "limited edition" 920. Put it in Nicki's hands, let her use it in her next big video. This woman has tons of followers who will be curious as to what phone their idol is using in her latest video. They'll go to the stores, asking for it..."the hot pink" one, only to be told that 'It's not available yet...but we have these other colours". The demand will rise (trust me, it will), and by demand, Nokia starts making "Hot Pink Nokia Lumia 920 - The Signature Nicky Minaj Model". Every teen girl and young female adult out there will RUSH to get the phone their idol uses, with her face on the box. Cut her a deal, give her a % of all sales of that particular phone over a year (it's a small price to pay, trust me).
2) Get it into a movie. I think Iron Man 3 would have been PERFECT for this. "The red or yellow Nokia Lumia 920, the phone Iron uses." It even sounds good! Millions of people will see it on the big screen, in Tony Stark's hands. That yellow or red would go perfect with his Iron Man suit and his personality.
4) Form a partnership with Redbull. A redbull event, partly sponsored by Nokia...THAT will get people's attention. Showcase it during an Extreme Sports event. It makes sense too, Nokia makes rugged, durable phone; the 920 is as durable as it gets. During breaks of the show, highlight the durablity and features that athletes will love, like its high sun-light readability and ultra sensitive touch - skiiers will love this, in fact, get one of the most famous snow boarders there and give him a phone for free.
This isn't rocket science. You don't need a degree in marketing to figure this out. Microsoft needs to get aggressive...a lot more aggressive.

You may be right. But, I think they need to embrace the underdog status and become the "un-cola". Pushing this through pop culture might work if you throw enough money at it. And that would be typical MS fashion. But they really need to summarize the collective boredom and frustration with the popular mobile platforms and play a little dirty here. Instead of having a celebrity TELL us how awesome it is, they need to SHOW us. [I personally do not care for celebrities telling me WTF to do.] They need to make a better job of influencing the decision at the point of sale. I definitely don't feel that my Tmo reps know or care about windows phone. The exclusivity of colors and features is destroying the value of the windows phone brand. This effort just seems so fragmented and half-ass. One thing we can agree on is that they need to be more agressive. Dial back the "hi my name is (celebrity) and I love windows phone". Guess what? Most people don't know what that is. This commercials are the style of a brand that is maintaining itself, not trying to get off the ground. Call in the hipsters if you have to.
OK, that's my rant.

I understand what your saying. Like Microsoft NEVER showed the Jessica alba commercial. Which I found ridiculous but I see those cam Newton commercials over and over. How about showing everything? Its like Microsoft is afraid to invest money in what they do!!!

Nokia didn't release 920 in china until one month after global launch, and isn't keen on pushing it. The good news for Nokia is 1) the app advantage of iOS and android is not that huge; 2) blackberry doesn't exist there. The bad news? Both Nokia and MS are notoriously arrogant there.

I agree Lumia 920 carrier exclusive and lack of variation from others no ativ S either. Samsung has like 6 android phones on Verizon alone and the odyssey won't sell well unless it is free under contract. Lumia 920 on ATT only holds it back just like the Palm Pre carrier exclusive to sprint only for a year when it was hands down better than the iPhone of the time.

^This. The Lumia 920 is like the Palm Pre all over again. Had the Palm Pre been available on Verizon at the outset, webOS might have boomed before the Droid hit, and we might have seen a different story there. If the 920, or a variant, hits Verizon in a few weeks, I think you'll see that number for the US climb noticeably. MS does need to plug a few "holes" in the customization of the OS, but the OS appears to be taking off quite quickly and the app situation is getting better.

people want high end specs if they are going to buy. android sells based on specs alone because the OS is lacking in many places such as reliability and consistency but users over look that because of hardware specs

Its easy to go google play store, download an app, and place on your fav home screen. Wait until you go to menu system. All over the place, unnecessary, confusing, stuff! You won't find that on WP. Menu system is straight forward.

Of course its ms fault. The launch of wp8 was a terrible launch. Then the flagship phone debacle launch and wp8 is missing features that it should have had with wp7 and there's no true reason for anyone to leave their current ecosystem other than being bored with them. Then you have developers clearly stating they won't support wp8 because there's no money to be made and other developers just don't want to develop for the os .
its not a bad os, its just not on par with the others. When you launch a product your have to equal your competitors in every way and them surpass them in others. Wp8 just doesn't do either.
ios has its marketplace and android has its phone selection, marketplace and openness.

Also, WP user satisfaction is much higher than the iPhone, or Android devices.. This clearly shows that the platform is on par with the others. You're confusing sales with a good product. Never think that a product is the best just because it's popular, and is the best selling. Be a leader not a follower, and find out for yourself which is the best product for you.. If you had a clue about WP then you would understand this.

WP is a great product but I have yet to see the rock solid device that complements it. Sorry but none of the Lumia phones are to WP what iP5 is to iOS, and while I believe that WP > iOS, I also believe WP + WP device < iOS + iP5.

Are you nuts? The Nokia Lumia 920 is one of the best designed, well built, and if not the most innovative phone on the market. It absolutely blows the iPhone 5 out of the water! So to say that WP doesn't have a phone to compliment it like the way the iPhone 5 compliments iOS just doesn't make any sense... This is what my comment was about earlier,, people who don't know what they are talking about... So, go compare specs between the iPhone 5, and the Nokia Lumia 920, and then actually go to a att store and physically experience the device.. You will see that WP does in fact have competitive hardware.. Actually, iOS is lacking the hardware to compliment it.. No NFC? No choice of devices? No, revolutionary screen specs? No revolutionary design? No OIS? No... Should I keep going? Give it up.. IPhones are for girls now.. Lol! Wake up.

I agree that the iPhone is a quality device. But, you can't say that the 920 feels cheep because its made of plastic. This is high quality polycarbonate that's milled from a single piece to make the unibody chassis. This is not the feel of some cheep plastic Samsung phones.. And, the iPhone5 has no innovation. Did you compare the specifications of the two devices? The 920 makes the iP5 look bad in a head to head comparison. The Lumia 920 is far superior to the iPhone in every way yet it cost a third of a what 32gb iPhone cost. With no innovation, nothing new vs the 4s except a bigger screen,, that's still small compared to other devices, horrible mapping, a outdated UI, no customization... Wow, that sounds like a smart buy. But, I'm sure you'll buy the next one, and the next one because "it's a iPhone"" lol!!! Tell me what's the advantage's?? Convince me...

Based on what? We have seen over, and over how WP devices have shown the highest level of satisfaction. From online polls to sites like Amazon, at&t, Best Buy, and T-Mobile the reviews have continuously shown users of WP being most satisfied with their phones. This is no coincidence because it really is a wonderful smartphone experience..

Every example you listed has already been done. Its in tv shows movies and the hands of people. Every 5 minutes there's a commercial for wp8. My wife gets annoyed every time I say look its my cyan phone. I always say cyan because I like the word

Interesting tidbit, I was asked about my NL822 today during an electronics lab, once I said Lumia the person along with a few people that chimed in said "I heard "Lumi(n)a" is better than iPhones." This was a pleasant surprise for me.

One huge advantage I see is how well excel and office works. Half the people in my office have switched already from Android and feel they are more efficient on the go. The ability to share excel and office documents using SkyDrive is phenomenal.

At this point I'm a little doom and gloom about the marketshare prospects. And no, I don't think sinking a billion dollars into commercials will change things. Looking back since the launch of the iPhone, I think MS has just royally screwed up at every turn. First their response to iPhone was "lol its too expensive". Finally they introduce a new modern phone platform that offered users the holy grail of choice. Except they didnt get around to doing this until AFTER Android established itself on that very concept. Then they let WP7 languish for an entire two years. I mean Mango was good and all, but no spec increase? No real Hero phone? I think with WP8 and W8 they are finally on the right track but they are still stumbling. In the end it seems MS is always 3 months too late with every move they make.
But whatever, I have chosen my platform and I enjoy it. My advice is, don't worry about marketshare so much. Heck, enjoy being the one guy in the office with "that Windows 8 Phone". As long as Nokia and MS stay profitable enough to keep releasing improved products, I'll be happy. I've given up on wanting everyone in the world to switch to my platform.

As much as the apps are lacking, what about the hardware? Its 2013 and we still only have two OEM's that have officially released the new WP8 phones? What if I dont want a brick like the 920? What if I need top line specs but cant live with the pathetic storage of the 8X? Everything after that is totally forgettable. Honestly, this is totally missed. Nothing gets excitement going like hardware!
On another note, Android has 86% market share in Spain? Thats crazy.

MSFT will get there. It may take longer, than we would like though. WP8 is a great mobile OS. I've already converted one of my diehard lagdroid buddies. He got the hots for my L920. Thinks it will be a good match for the Surface he bought the other day. :-)

We Americans are so brainwashed and to stubborn to give Windows phone a try. Just hate it because the next guy hates it. Maybe afraid of change. . . I know, they can't imagine having a phone without their favorite "fart app".

Think about it. My generation grew up with the Microsoft of antitrust lawsuits and derpy Windows ME. The generation immediately after mine that grew up with Apple on the rise, and the generation after that is being raised on iPads and not Windows PCs like people my age.

I have been on WP7 since launch and I might go android very soon. It is almost a no-brainer. Samsung GS3 costs the same as a Lumia 820 on a 24 month contract here in Australia (~$50 pr. month). The Nokia maps are very tempting, but a big high resolution screen and quadcore CPU are much more tempting if I will be locked in for 2 YEARS.

And to you we say good ridance. If all you care about is a big screen and quadcore then you don't know much. Windows Phone doesn't need quadcore to run smoothly. And on a personal preference I don't want to hold my tv up to my ear.

Processor specs are irrelevant so long as the system runs smoothly. Why have quad core when it will make no difference, all it shows is that Android is an inferior os that needs much more power to operate at a similar standard.

This article has quite a negative cast to it. It’s quoting the not so great news out of context and it is interesting to note how negative the title is compared to the source document. The source document from Kantar is called "Windows sees strong European growth" and WPCentral changes this to highlight slow Windows Phone growth. Is someone having a bad day. WP has hampered by 1st gen devices not being upgradable but WP seems like it is trending quite well since WP8 has come out--with the US being an unfortunate exception to that.

I find no issues with my 920 best wins phone yet so far all the apps I need I've got. Find another phone with a camera as good as the 920's has Carl Zeiss rocks. I'll never have anything but a wins phone apples stock went down to $500 a share today and exxon/mobile knocked them off the top spot goodbye apple hello wins phone.

Looks to me like solid growth in some areas though like GB and Italy (highest growth of any in Italy). It only lost growth in one country. I think that's positive news. Granted it's not great news. But at least not bad.

I can't argue with the numbers, but I don't get all the complaining about the OS and so-called lack of support by MS. I absolutely love the OS and hardware. It is totally stable, does almost everything I would want, frees me from my office without missing a beat, and is fun to boot. Lack of apps? Not an issue for me. But I am not a gamer, so I am not experiencing any loss there. I would like Instagram, but I am not going to dump on the entire platform because it is not here yet. Seems to me they've been spending on advertising, certainly everyone I know is aware of it, never was the case with Windows Mobile. Is it perfect? No, still has some glitches, but overall I am very pleased and recommend WP8 to everyone.

Once again, this story about market share really misses the point. You can't gauge market share performance solely by positioning. You must look at gains and losses to get the full picture. The percantages listed in the chart are percentage points and only reflect positioning and not performance. In the US when you analyze the data properly, iOS gained additional market share by about 14%, Android lost just over 1% of it's market share and WP increased market share by 18%. While WP growth may be slow, it is certainly gaining momentum.

I promised myself, that I wouldn't dive into reading the comment section, of articles like this, because of all the Chicken Littles, crying doom, and gloom. Yet, I made it balls deep into them, before I relented. That said, the only thing MS hasn't done, is resort to massive "hyperbole," (a fancy word for bodacious lying), like Sammy, And Fruit. They just need to start making claims, or "magical" abilities, and claim instantaneous NFC data transfers "(Just like that?"/"Just like that!"), even though it takes way longer, not just bumping phones. I find myself entertained, by their truth stretching, and, once, long ago (iPhone 4 launch), even joined the lemmings, in the dark of night, outside my local at&t store, to get my hands on The Precious, because I had to know what the hype was about. So it really is quite simple, you see? MS just needs to stop showing the World, what the phone really can do, in its commercials, and start showing the World what it CAN'T do, but make it look like it does. Works, with the sheeple, EVERY time!

Nokia has a problem of producing phones, damn it. I am still waiting on my Cyan 920 since Nov 19 and I am in the USA. That's the real reason for the slow sales in the US. Come on Nokia, take my money already!

I agree with most of what everyone's said thus far. WP8 has such a slick interface and is so easy to use. It's also a stunning looking OS in so many way. However I think it hasn't gained much traction because of the missing apps and because there is lack of compelling phone options.
At least here in the states, most people associate Nokia phones with those bricks from the 1990s. Furthermore very few people are interested in yellow and cyan phones. I know that you can get a black 8x or black Lumia but the perception is that they are mainly skittle colored phones that are not to be taken too seriously.
Lastly, Micorsoft has a pretty poor reputation with its phone history that the masses don't take them seriously.
If you called this the Surface phone or X phone (with no Microsoft branding), had a wide variety of mainstream handsets (particularly from Samsung) and had an app selection equivilent of android then you'd probably see 15 to 20% marketshare throughout the world.

Everyone on this site is a fan of WP. We are a very, very small minority. 96% of the market is not using WP, 96%! MS needs to understand that they really need to get everything perfect when you're fighting an uphill battle like this. None of this were doing better than iOS or Android after 2.5 years. That is not relevant & does not matter unless you live in the past.
If this was a marathon, this is how MS is faring: MS was at the start with everyone, then they get a cramp & fall behind(iPhone launched, then Android) they run through the cramp & try to catch up(WP7), the cramp goes away but they get a blister on one foot(WP7.5 & exclusive Lumia 900), They start running at a steady pace & getting some momentum for the 2nd half of the race (Apollo build up), only to get a cramp in the other leg(no upgrade for WP7.5 to WP8) They get to the 2nd half of the race but they are cramping, are getting dehydrated & missing all the aid stations(bad launch, missing top apps, Xbox music, Skype, etc) to make things worse they now have a blister on the other foot(exclusive Lumia 920, plus short supply at launch). Then as they are trying to gather themselves to make another push, a spectator yells at them to pick up the pace because the only person they are ahead of just turned the corner & is right behind you(RIM), they have took their time, paced themselves, are hydrated & are ready for the final push to the finish(BB10).
Say what you want about RIM & BB10. But it seems they know they only have one shot at getting back in this race so they are triple dotting their "I's" & quadruple crossing the "T's" with BB10. They say they are making sure they have the right apps at launch, etc.....They are acting like a company that knows this is it's last best shot. MS is with the ideas, but not on the execution. Unfortunatly execution is everything. The best idea in the world is crap without good execution.
I'll still use WP because I'm a fan & just don't like iOS or Android. Not even thinking of BB10. I hope Verizon will have a 9XX or what ever phone by Mid Feb when my contract is up. My HTC Trophy is in dire need of replacement.
End of rant...... carry on.

Microsofts failure with their own beasts, such as Skype and Facebook, their failure to bankroll key developers to get them onboard (instagram, iPlayer spring to mind) and their willingness to sit back and watch as they make money on every droid, apple, blackberry and WP handset sold, is the big problem. To their credit, they're bankrolling Nokia (to the tune of $10billion spread over 5 years I may add, which isn't a small amount, even for ms), who are doing a brilliant job promoting the platform, and I suspect they're helping HTC out a lot more now, as they too seem more committed to WP than ever before, but Microsoft really do need to raise awareness of the os themselves.. The problem like I say, seems to be Microsoft making so much revenue out of other platforms, specifically droid devices, that it matters not at all, as to whether WP is a success or not, financially at least. For Nokia however, their future depends on it, even the same can be said for HTC to a degree, so hopefully these two will drive the uptake of the platform for both consumers and developers.

Coming from the iphone4, the most important basic features are absurdly missing from wp8.

1. PDF handling
The only thing u can do on wp8 is view them. What is going on?
2. Watch video Streams
You can view streaming from WebPages on both ios and android
3. MMS videos
Can't do this for some reason. IOS lowers the quality and limits the length and allows it to be sent
4. Forward button, gets pretty annoying when browsing IE, its just 1 simple button that they absurdly left out.
5. SkyDrive
Can't upload files like email attachments directly. Need to save pics then upload. PDF files can't upload at all. Seriously? Why is it ios and android capable but wp8 isn't?
6. Office
Can't view my files uploaded from my PC to SkyDrive because of version incompatibility. Seriously MS? Your own damn software can't recognize itself?
7. No Orientation lock
Are you serious?
8. Volume keys
Ringer and phone volume adjustment are not separate? Seriously this is bad.
9. Vibrate/Silent
Can't custom set this to complete silence
10. Quality Apps
The only high quality app so far is WPC. This is like the standard with customizations.

Without basic functions, how can 1 work with this wp8 let alone make quality apps without a solid foundation. I'm a windows fan, I switched 5 PCs to windows 8 when it first came out. Ditching iPhone and android pad for all out windows only to find such disappointment with basic daily functions.

I really hope someone at MS would kick in turbo boost and get all these frustrating things sorted. Any new wp8 user would get put off easily with this level of programming.

For those of you continuously slamming the other OSes it is not helping to build up WP. If you've worked with the other OSes, iOS and Android, they are both very mature OSes (I'm talking the latest with iOS 6 and Android 4.1/4.2) with lots of App support and very stable platforms. They may be less exciting than WP or may not work as well (in Your Opinion - I'm sure the current owners would disagree with you) but they have strength's and weaknesses of their own.

I know this a great place to have this discussion but maybe you guys should shorten your original comments down to140 characters and let @microsoft have it. I'm pretty sure if they get 100s of these on their feed everyday some suit will have to look into it. Hell, tell them to visit wpcentral.com and read their customers commentary. We can all sit around and bitch (which I do my fair amount of) or we can be proactive. The reason most of us are frustrated is because we see the potential for WP to be a huge success and Microsoft is pretty much letting us down. It takes a few seconds to bang out a tweet. I do it at least once a day ever since the article these guys ran the other day. @Microsoft @windowsphone @xbox @xboxsupport @surface I added surface because its pretty much in the same boat app wise. Again, a great product, just shoddy support. Sorry so long but im ready for windows phone to get past these growing pains.

No apps, no sales! WP8 will be history in a few years because people want a device that makes life easier, and that's what apps are designed for. After two years WP can't get any major official apps developed for the platform," BANG" their dead!

Bottom line WP8 needs to appeal to the masses and you do that with having all the little features that should have been there from the get-go (ie orientation lock, contact text message tone, etc) and pulling in the app developers and providing them with incentives. App developers are not going to waste their time, effort, and money to a platform they have little confidence will survive but if you throw a little something their way this make it their while.
Unfortunately, the apps that most of you don't like or use will have to be on WP8 if MS wants more sales and I'm talking the Instagrams, the Temple Runs, etc. I ride the subway and I see the ads for some apps and all I see are App Store or Google Play and not the Windows Store. Until people, the consumers, see their favorite apps on another platform they will not consider it a choice. Blackberry already has an MLB AtBat app and the damn phone hasn't been released yet! A major player with a huge fanbase is on iOS and soon to be on Blackberry. MS needs to hustle.